As is tradition, Margrethe II shrugged off her recent back surgery to celebrate her 83nd birthday at Christian IX’s Palace at Amalienborg on Sunday 16 April with a visit to the balcony. Initially, some media cast her as a forlorn monarch, very much on her own.

But peel away from the close-up and hey presto: the rest of her family were waiting in the wings on the adjoining balconies!

And when they came together onto one single balcony … well, the country collectively gulped and hoped any recent renovation work wasn’t done on the cheap.

Prince Joachim and his troops were all there: Countess Athena, Counts Nikolai, Felix and Henrik, and his wife Princess Marie

Likewise the public were there in hearty numbers – for what was only the second such royal birthday greeting since 2019.